I have had several experiences here over the years (especially when we lived in Chelsea before moving to our house in Kensington where we live about half the year), never have they been good, but the most recent last autumn prompting me to finally leave a review (the Chanel nearby repairs classics for free and has always been a completely opposite experience to those I have had with this Dior boutique).
I went by on a weekend this past autumn as they said by phone they could clean my toile de jouy zodiac limited edition d-lite bags (every summer they used to make about 110 of these limited edition zodiac bags, which are so fun and quite different to my usual Chanel etc classics, being bright fun colors and zodiac patterns). I purchased the dragon in June 2021 when it was the last one in the UK, already sold out in Europe and the states - to this day visiting every continent but Antarctica nearly every year I’ve only seen one other, but in the tote variation, and most Dior boutiques worldwide don’t know about the collection, which makes it that much more difficult to find.
I purchased the 2022 edition from the Vienna Dior boutique, which was an absolute nightmare (similar to this store, but different reasons), they made it next to impossible to pay from overseas (to then collect in person), and we were visiting Austria in the coming weeks. Ironically, turned out they actually were having it shipped from Paris, where I used to live and spend a lot of time (so it would have been easier to buy it there in the first place if I’d known that’s what they were doing), and ultimately had to collect it from Paris when they botched the order so that it did not arrive in Vienna until after our departure (bear in mind this was with quite a bit of advance notice).
I’ve been unable to find any since 2022, with Dior boutiques not knowing what the collection is.
Onwards to the point of this review.
We dropped by on our way to meet friends on a weekend afternoon, so a bit pressed for time. They only had a couple patrons in the boutique during the hour we were waiting, dressed in tennis shoes, T-shirts, puff coats, Balenciaga type streetwear (which is why while Balenciaga was one of my favorite brands when I was a doctoral student in manhattan and I have more fun Balenciaga motorcycle bags than I can count, I no longer endorse the brand, as it looks so sloppy and has such a negative connotation now).
There were many customer service representatives walking around, not assisting anyone (literally almost no one in there in the first place), yet they insisted that we must wait for the manager, while window shoppers were being assisted for an hours time, as we were sitting there, with my Chanel classic, usual 5” heels (don’t own lower), a custom made full length wool coat (I weigh 42 KG so cannot even purchase adult size clothing in the UK, even kids age 8 is too large), beautiful hat - point being we did not look like we came off the streets AND were there for a reason, not that it should matter what a customer looks like, but we were sitting there, waiting for eternity whilst window shoppers in T-shirts and tennis shoes were being assisted (never saw any purchases by the whopping 2 customers).
When they did finally assist us, they said they cannot clean the bag, so waiting was completely pointless and I don’t see why anyone couldn’t have told us that during the hour waiting for assistance after stating that we are still waiting and late for our plans.
As if this was not frustrating enough, the manager alleged to know about the collection (it did not seem that she did), so looked up my contact information from my profile, insisting that she would check when the next collection would be and contact me.
You know, making an actual purchase, not a window shopper, as I explained at length that it has been very difficult to find this collection since 2022 and I would love to continue to purchase them on an annual basis.
Half a year later, I never heard from this manager, similar to the service or lack there of received in the shop.